353 N. Calvert St.,(410)727-1717

Edward Ericson Jr.

If you skip Jamaican food because it's much too hot and spicy, consider the curry shrimp at Island Flavors Cuisine. At this cafeteria-style breakfast and lunch joint, the curry is actually sweet. There are plenty of cooked-down potatoes and carrots and tails-on shrimp. (I know it's how everybody does it but, really, in a heavy sauce, having to pick or spit shells from your mouth every third bite detracts from the food a bit.) Too mild is not to everyone's taste either (one reviewer demanded more kick), but curry does not have to be all about chili peppers. Island Flavors moved about five months ago into a space that's seen a lot of restaurants come and go. The small portions of standards like curry chicken and jerk chicken are $7 and $8, while the seafoods (Escovitch fish, our curry shrimp) are a more intimidating $15 and $13, respectively. All in (with a can of grape Crush soda), our lunch rang in at $15.78. That isn't exactly "cheap eats" where I come from, but the clamshell box weighed most of five pounds and could easily have fed three, maybe four. In it was a base of rice and peas with a hearty texture, a bit salty but not at all mushy. A side of cabbage was tangy and crisp, and three really good, sweet, and chewy fried plantains took the salt up from the rice.